Chapter Six: The Bloodfort Arc begins
Disclaimer: I own nothing about FSN other than this story. Please don't sue me.
Oh, and the first bit is a direct adaption of Fate/Zero and the end of Fate. Again, pleasepleaseplease don't sue me.
Last chapter: Shirou and Saber tried to plan for the future Servants, Shirou forgot that Saber hadn't met Sakura and Taiga and pulled a facepalmworthy epic fail, he explained Saber's presence in a manner that made Saber suspicious, all three girls forbade him going to school and he ended his day getting beaten up by Saber. Oh, and he still has no idea why Avalon is acting screwy. In other words, one of the nicer chapters to Shirou so far. *grin* Kirei would be proud of my ability to make Shirou suffer.
Chapter Warning: Opening dream scene contains 200% of your daily recommended angst. I tried to stop it turning into wangst, but not sure how well I carried it off.
Shirou dreamed of swords, and blood, and betrayal.
He had arrived in the middle of a combat. In Fuyuki cit- wait. Something from Saber's past, in Fuyuki, involving combat between Servants. He was witnessing the previous Grail War. Well, this was... unexpected. Shirou turned his gaze towards to combat.
And stood shocked.
Before him, his Saber was knocked flying, silver armour already gashed and damaged. She barely managed to get her blade up as a mad roar burst forth from her enemy. For a second, Shirou is afraid that somehow he was dreaming of their first encounter with Berserker, but a glance at the surroundings told him the truth.
Saber was being beaten by a black giant of a Berserker. Again.
It would almost be funny, if it weren't so deadly serious.
Saber managed to get to her knees, when the black-armoured Servant flew towards her, and raised his dark sword in a motion that would surely-
The world stopped, as Shirou took in the sword before him. Unconsciously, he began to analyze it.
Rage
Hate
Fury
Betrayal
Pain
Anger
Disgust
Loathing
Shirou's mind recoiled from the weapon before him. It inspired in him a feeling similar to Ea. The sword before him made his mind try to crawl away, but unlike Ea, where he could not understand it, he merely wished he couldn't. He has no choice but to accept the knowledge of this sword into his mind. He gave a silent cry, and fell to his knees as every aspect of the sword poured into his soul.
This sword was the opposite of everything Shirou stood for. While Shirou's ideal was based around saving, this weapon, once pure, had changed into a tool only of death and anger. Even if it was wielded by someone innocent and pure, Shirou felt as if nothing could come of this sword other than ashes and death. It seemed to be made of rage, and the very thought of such a weapon existing made Shirou almost physically ill.
The name of the weapon came to his mind involuntarily.
Arondight.
With that, the sword was no longer in his mind, and the world unpaused.
The black knight gave out a howl, and brought his blade down in an arc that smashed Saber into the ground. But Shirou could see, despite the wounds she was suffering, Saber was not fighting back. Instead, she was crying. Tears dripped down her face, and as Shirou looked, she whispered a word in disbelief.
Lancelot.
No. No. Nonononono. Not even fate would be as cruel as that. Not even the Grail would be as sadistic as to choose these two for the same war. Surely she is mistaken. Surely the knight before him is not Saber's most gallant and noble follower. Even Shirou knew the tale of Arthur and Guinevere and Lancelot, but he simply won't believe it. In that moment, the sword brought itself back into his mind in that instant, and he caught a glimpse of its history before he forced the sword from his thoughts.
A noble knight, training to serve a noble lord.
A noble knight, fighting for his lord.
Slowly, however, it begins to change.
A knight, fighting for his lord and lady.
A knight, fighting for the lady.
A traitor, betraying his lord for the lady.
A traitor, cutting down comrades to save the lady.
The blade staining itself black with the blood of once-comrades, erupting with a fire that ate the light around the wielder.
It is no wonder Saber was crying, no wonder she cannot look at her foe directly. Of course her eyes blurred in tears, her legs buckled weakly. To find her once trusted comrade was trying to kill her with everything possible, a betrayal that great was beyond belief. Her greatest ally and friend hated her with a force that transcended time. Her trusted knight cursed her with every fiber of his being.
Shirou looked away from the fight as Berserker once more brought his blade down on Saber. But even that is not enough to block Saber's frantic cry;
"Stop!"
Shirou wished more than anything that he could unhear that tone. The despair, the desperation, the sobbing. But in the dreamscape he cannot block his ears, even if his eyes turn away.
"Stop! Please!"
Suddenly, there is a the sound of metal tearing before a weapon, and Shirou unwillingly looks back to where he is sure Saber will be found lying on the ground.
But she wasn't. Berserker, for reasons he did not understand, had hesitated, and Saber had unwittingly, unwillingly, unconsciously stabbed the black knight with her blade. Blood dripped from the invisible tip of her sword, and Shirou hears Saber's cry of shock and self-loathing.
"And even thus, I still desire the Grail."
Shirou couldn't see any more. He knew now that this, not on the bloodstained fields of Camlann, was the moment she resolved to choose another to take her place. He had no right to look at any of this, nor any words of comfort to offer her. He had played with time with a vague statement and condemned Saber in the same breath for trying to do the same, in an effort to prevent this scene playing out before him. How could he honestly tell her that her past was behind her, when he could not leave his own behind him?
Saber rested her back against the wall, facing her Master's door. While she had tried to persuade him to let her sleep in the same room, her Master had been very insistent. He had offered her a bed in the adjoining room, but for tonight she had decided to guard the entrance to Shirou's room. Her Master had shown himself to have little concern for his own health, and at least this way she would be awakened if her Master tried to rise too early. Eventually, her eyelids fell, and Saber slept.
To her surprise, Saber found herself in a dream. Dreams occurring on the very first night were...rare, and signaled a strong bond between Servant and Master. This, at least, made her happy. On the other hand, this dream seemed strange. Normally, dreams showed important events in the lives of the Master or Servant. This one, however, was dark. Saber could see nothing, even her heightened senses could not feel anything. Still, perhaps something would occur soon that would expla-
"—Angra Manyu—"
And Saber's world exploded in pain.
Hell. That was the only thought that managed to enter Saber's mind. Somehow she had entered hell. The darkness around her was not empty. It was an all-consuming nothingness that tore into her mind and body. She would scream, but the darkness crushes her senses and removes her voice. The void around her somehow begins to melt Saber's body. She tries to move forwards, out of her dream, but her feet find no purchase on the empty space, and her arms pass through the void. Her body is being destroyed.
A voice from the void, speaking in a corrupted, almost honeyed tone. She cannot help but feel it is talking to someone other than her. But this does not matter. Nothing matters to Saber other than the pain.
"—Elimination of human rights by castration, exile, execution—"
With each word, images crash into Saber's mind, forcing their way past what mental defenses she has and engraving them forever in her psyche.
"—Torture and sadism upon the body through digestion. Denial by consensus of the colony that eliminates all honor—"
The voice is speeding up now, and the images keep pace, crushing Saber's will under a relentless torrent of hate. The sins of the entire human race, past, present and future all at once. The voice seems to continue, but the words are drowned out by the the mental images it is forcing on her. She witnesses countless crimes, from murders to genocide to theft to rape. She witnesses countless scenes that would drive any ordinary person mad, and she is unable to scream. The dreamscape warps into a thousand shouting faces, a thousand corpses, and the honeyed voice speeds up, now shouting.
"—ScornGrudgesDeath PenaltyImprisonmentCustody SelfInterestUnconsiciousCrime SelfConscious CrimeCivilWar InducementStatment TheftRobberyKidnap SuicideRapeArsonBombing ViolationHomicideMassViolence RapeDeathConcelament LoveRespect SelfishConcealment MurderTheftWarCrimes AttackDirtyAtone KindnessMalignace EvilPenalty—"
"—EveryViolence EveryVictim EveryCriminal EveryCrime AtoneForEverything—"
"—Die—"
"—DieDieDie—"
"—DieDieDieDieDie—"
"—DieDieDie DieDieDieDieDie DieDieDieDieDie—"
The Darkness eats away at her body, and the scenes continue to seep through her senses. She can SeeTasteSmellTouchHearThink every crime. Every violation EverCommittedWillBe CommittedIsBeingCommitted.
Darkness she cannot see engulfs her
Ugliness she cannot acknowledge embraces her
Crimes she wishes to flee
Every crime of humanity.
And Saber is catapulted from her dream.
Saber's body was already moving before she was fully awake. With every sense telling her that something was wrong, she instinctively rolled forwards, drawing her weapon and jumping upright in a single movement.
Then she woke up.
Saber's world spun as the dream rushed into her conscious mind, and her knees gave way, letting her fall onto the mattress in the room she had just rolled into.
'What on earth was that! If I dream at all, it should be about my Master's...'
Her thoughts came crashing to a halt as her mind became clearer. Specifically, how she had rolled, from her position in the corridor outside her Master's bedroom, though an open door onto a bed. A bed where her Master was supposed to be resting.
Saber desperately tried to think of a sensible explanation. Perhaps he had awoken and had needed to go to the bathro-
The field around the house pulsed once, letting Saber know that someone had just left, and she was now the only person inside.
A growl escaped Arturia's throat, her anger pushing her dream back into her mind for the moment.
She was going to have a very deep discussion with her Master. As soon as she brought him back home. And broke his legs.
She armored herself with a thought, then hurried after her suicidal Master.
Shirou was half way to school before he felt a familiar presence right behind him, and the whisper of wind that signaled someone passing him. He barely managed to think ''wait-' before a very annoyed Saber appeared in front of him, gauntlets clenching and with her standard "emotionless mask" expression in place. Shirou stopped moving, and Master and Servant faced each other. Well, Servant faced Master, while Master looked at the ground in front of him.
"Surely, Master, I must be dreaming. My Master could never be as foolish as to leave the house without informing me. But perhaps there is another explanation for leaving a defensible location the night after being critically injured. Perhaps there is method to this madness?"
Shirou's brain took the opportunity to reboot itself after the panic attack he had gone through after his dream. As Saber spoke, he began to list the facts before him.
'Ok let me work this out. After my dream, I left to try and do something about the Bloodfort at the school. Because of the dream, I tried to keep Saber safe. Again. Sometime shortly after I left, Saber must have woken up and noticed my absence. And now I have about ten seconds before Saber drags me home, and locks me in.'
After a moment's thought, he added another thing to the list.
'Oh, and now it's five seconds.'
"I'msorryIhadabaddreamandwasn'tthinking."
Saber's face did not budge an inch.
"Slower, Master. So I can understand."
Shirou took a deep breath, and began to speak in a forced voice.
"I'm sorry. I had a very... bad dream and I wasn't thinking clearly. Normally I try and clear my head after dreams by walking around for a while, but I forgot the situation. I'm entirely to blame and-"
"I... understand."
Saber's words were soft, but Shirou heard them and looked up in surprise, catching, for a moment, an expression of exhaustion. Anyone other than Shirou would have missed it but Shirou had made a study of Saber's features and to him it stood out. It was an expression she had barely ever used and he wondered what she was thinking.
Truth be told, Saber was feeling conflicted. On one hand, her Master had committed an act of such stupidity it was astounding. On the other, her Master was an innocent boy who still thought about school, who might have just witnessed any number of brutal massacres from her own past. And she had failed to warn her Master of this possible danger. If he had seen some scenes from her past, it was no wonder he was so shell-shocked. She intentionally crushed any thoughts about her dream, and it's relation to Shirou.
In the end, at least part of the blame rested squarely on her on failings as the Servant of an inexperienced Master.
"While your actions were dangerous and not thought through, they are understandable. I would ask you not to repeat this behavior, even if you have another such dream."
'Why is Saber being so accepting of my excuse? I was an idiot, and she seemed willing to physically force me home just before I mentioned my dream...'
"Saber, is there anything you want to talk about?"
By now, Shirou had lifted himself up and was facing Saber. He saw her eyes widen for a moment, before she opened her mouth, seemed to think twice and lowered her head.
"I would prefer some time to think, but I thank you for the offer."
"I've always thought that people think better when walking. Would you mind walking with me for a while?"
Saber's eyes lit up. He truly was different from her previous Master.
"I would enjoy that, Shirou. This would also provide an opportune time to examine the town."
The two of them turned, and began to walk, with one thought in both heads.
'Not to mention that I don't think that I would get much rest after tonight's dream.'
It was, of course, a complete coincidence that Shirou's path took the two past the school. And it was obviously a surprise when Shirou sensed a 'passive, yet hostile magic field around the school'. All these accidents where what lead Shirou and Saber to find themselves in school at an ungodly hour.
Shirou was trying, unsuccessfully, to remove a single roof tile which was part of the bloodfort's sigil system. Saber was looking on with equal parts amusement and frustration. She had been hoping that he would be forced to call on her help, which might go some way to teaching him to leave the...ah 'heavy lifting' to her. However, it seemed she had underestimated her Master's determination. Still, this did leave her with another question.
"Master, if you insist on doing such tasks alone, why are you not using you magic?"
Shirou gave her an annoyed glare. He had already explained that he lacked the skills to break the sigils via magic.
"Because, Saber, unlike others I am not a good enough magus to dispel this."
Saber gave her Master another look, surely he knew about…
"Master, why do you not just reinforce your physical capabilities?"
"Reinforce…my physical abilities?"
A third voice, shocked and dismayed, managed to break into the conversation.
"N-no way. You don't even know about that?"
Both Saber and Shirou spun around to find Rin leaning against the roof's stairwell looking pale, and behind her…
"Why, Master, you certainly have made an enemy of a terrifying magus."
A dry, sarcastic voice that Shirou knew.
Archer.
AN: and so begins the bloodfort story arc. Probably going to be around four or so chapters for this arc.
HR's random recommendations: Leonard Cohen (esp "Everybody knows", "The Future", "Famous Blue Raincoat" and "First we take Manhattan")
HR's random book/anime recommendation: The Once and Future King
